Thane, Jul 27 (IANS): A team of doctors at a hospital in Thane's Mira Road have successfully performed a double surgery on a 58-year-old woman who suffered from cancers of the breast and uterus, a hospital official said here on Wednesday.

The woman, Pooja Desai (name changed on request) was under the care of a team of Wockhardt Hospitals doctors comprising Dr. Tirathram Kaushik, Dr. Rajashri Bhasale, Dr. Atul Narayankar, Dr. Ravi Maneik and Dr. Pratik Tibdewal.

“Dual cancer is seen in barely one-two per cent of the people owing to a genetic mutation in the MMR gene. A multidisciplinary treatment comprising surgery and radiation therapy was used to treat this patient,” said Dr Kaushik.

The woman, a resident of Bhayander, panicked when she suddenly experienced post-menopausal bleeding and came in an emergency to the Wockhardt Hospitals here for which she was given radiation therapy treatment.

Her ultrasonography revealed thickening of the endometrium and a biopsy confirmed the worst fears and a subsequent whole-body PET-CT Scan and pelvic MRI revealed a 5-mm lesion in the left breast, said Dr. Bhasale.

After the two cancers were confirmed, the patient was counselled and prepared for the double surgery. She underwent a laparoscopic surgery for uterine cancer and oncoplastic breast preserving operation and was discharged in three days, according to Dr. Kaushik.

A genetic test revealed that she was having a MMR Gene Mutation, or Lynch Syndrome, which is hereditary and the most common cause of colorectal cancer. "The patient faces a greater risk of colon cancer in the near future, but now two surgeries were performed and she is much better now. After the total three-month long treatment, we have discharged her with precautions like lifestyle modifications, proper diet and exercises," said Dr. Bhasale.

The patient later recounted how she had experienced a rude shock when she was diagnosed with dual cancers simultaneously. "I had heard of people suffering from one cancer at a time… For me this was unbelievable, as the only symptom was post-menopausal bleeding, but the timely treatment at the Wockhardt Hospitals has helped me," she said.